Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

A nine-member delegation of Pakistani textile manufacturers arrives in Dhaka on November 19 to hold ‘substantive’ talks to invest in Bangladesh’s backward linkage industries for readymade garments sector.
   During their four-day visit to Bangladesh, Pakistan’s high-profile textile makers representing leading companies, are scheduled to meet with ministers, officials concerned and business leaders of the sector.
   The Pakistani textile entrepreneurs eye Bangladesh for setting up joint-venture units, or what is called relocation of their units, according to the Board of Investment and the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association.
   Shabir Ahmed, chief executive of Nash and president of Pak-France business council, will lead the delegation, which includes Bashir Ali Mohammed, chief executive of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, Aziz Latif Jamal of Husein Industries, Haleem Siddiquie, a former state minister, and Naqi Bari, vice president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
   While Pakistani entrepreneurs’ interests lie in reaping duty-free market access enjoyed by Bangladesh as a least developed country to developed countries, local businessmen want investment in textiles for meeting the huge demand of raw materials for the country’s major export-earning readymade garments.
   The textiles mills association claims that the local textile manufacturers can meet up to 40 per cent of the domestic textile demand while the leaders of the readymade garments say they buy hardly 20 per cent of their necessary textiles for woven products from the domestic market. Pakistan produces 25 per cent of the world’s cotton and exports textiles worth over $12 billion a year.
   The Pakistani team is scheduled to attend a dialogue on ‘Strategic Cooperation in Textile Sector Between Bangladesh and Pakistan’ at Sonargaon Hotel on November 20. The foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, is likely to attend as chief guest.
   Upon arrival on November 20, the delegation will hold a meeting at the textile mills association, besides meetings with local textile manufacturers and those interested in joint-venture projects.
   The delegation is expected to meet the commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, and the jute and textiles minister, Shahjahan Siraj, on November 20 and the industries minister, Matiur Rahman Nizami, on November 21.
   They will also make a presentation at a meeting with the executive chairman of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority, Zakir Hossain.

Notes in circulation along with issued amount increased marginally at the end of the third week of October from levels of end-September.
   Statistics available with   Bangladesh Bank revealed that as of October 20, notes in circulation stood over Tk 21,198.06 crore, higher by Tk 753.82 crore from the amounts of end-September.
   As of September 29, notes in circulation stood over Tk 20,444.24 crore.
   The figures were revealed in the weekly statement of affairs of the central bank banking as well as issue department.
   At end October, issued amount of notes stood at Tk 21,199.02 crore, which was Tk 20,444.91 crore at the end of the first quarter of the current fiscal.
   Notes held with the banking department of the central bank also increased significantly during the period under review.
   The amount was Tk 96.34 lakh in the week ending October 30. The amount was Tk 6.65 lakh in the week ending September 29.
   The figure of loans and advances to the government remained unchanged in the week under review.
   The amount of loans and advances to the government during the week ended October 30 as well as on September 29 was Tk 64 crore.
   Other loans and advances — indicating loans of scheduled banks to agricultural, industrial, export and other sectors — however, increased marginally.
   The other loans and advances stood at Tk 2,842.77 crore as of October 30, which was Tk 2,742.77 crore as of September 29, revealed the central bank statistics.
   The amount of investment increased significantly during the period under review.
   Some Tk 8,081.83 crore was shown as investment in the third week of October which was Tk 7,209.66 crore in the last week of September, down by Tk 872.17 crore.
   At the end of the third week of October, balances held outside Bangladesh increased from the previous end-September balances.
   The balances, including cash and short term securities, stood at Tk 9,316.76 crore as of October 20, which was Tk 230 crore more than that of the first quarter.
   The amount of approved foreign exchange remained unchanged at Tk 8,000 crore.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said establishment of a separate ministry for garments has become essential to look after and facilitate its interests and activities.
   The outgoing president of the association Annisul Huq on Tuesday strongly reiterated the industry’s demand for setting up the proposed ministry, which he said was one of the major electoral pledges of the ruling BNP-led alliance government.
   ‘It is a bit late and there should be a separate ministry for garment sector,’ said Annis at a press conference at the association’s office.
   The sector needs integrated attention, prompt support and services to industries facing difficulties,’ said Annis. ‘With a separate ministry, industries will get one stop services and better interaction with the government.’
   Earning 74 per cent of total exports and employing two million workers, the country’s main industrial sector is going through tough times in the global market that turned fiercely competitive in the post-MFA era, claimed Annis arguing for a separate ministry.
   In his last press conference, as the head of the association, Annis briefed on its last week’s visit to the USA for lobbying for duty-free access for garment products from Bangladesh and 12 other least developed countries.
   He hoped that the bill Trade Relief Assistance for Developing Economies, forwarded to the US Congress earlier this year might be passed by the middle of next year.
   Annis said 19 congressmen have pledged their support to the bill so far and officials in US administration assured the association’s delegation that the administration would not oppose the bill.
   Annis urged the government to move on the country’s trade interest and include the issue of duty-free access in its position at the forthcoming WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong next month.
   ‘During the last ministerial meeting, Bangladesh could not pursue its interests individually, being the leader of least developed countries, thus this is high time to work,’ said Annis.
   On recent export trends, Anis said they are doing well in the USA but facing a decline in the EU market.
   Annis said the US-China Textile Agreement concluded last week will be beneficial for China but may impact on exports from Bangladesh and other countries, which will surface in the next two months.
   The US is still the single largest market for Bangladeshi ready made garments as about 30 per cent of its $6 billion dollar exports go there.
   Annisul Huq today will hand over his charge of the organisation to Tipu Munshi, a director of the association’s executive board.
   Eight months ago, a consensus election in the association agreed that three panels of office bearers led by Annisul Huq, Tipu Munshi and Fazlul Haque will share association’s leadership with each heading the organisation for eight months of the two-year term of the executive body.

The United Kingdom-based Asia Energy has appointed Gary Lye to its board as executive director and chief operating officer to broaden the top management team in preparation for the commencement of mining at its Phulbari coal project.
   Lye is currently the chief executive officer of Asia Energy’s subsidiary, Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) and will continue to maintain the position, said a press release on Tuesday.
   Lye has been working on the feasibility study for coal mining at the Phulbari coal deposit in northwest Bangladesh for the past two years.
   The company’s exploration drilling confirmed a resource at Phulbari of 572 million tonnes of high quality bituminous coal and the company submitted a Scheme of Development and Feasibility Study to the government on October 2.
   Asia Energy has also submitted a proposal to build a 500 MW coal-fired power plant at the mine site.

An institutionalisation pilot programme was formally inaugurated Monday in Gazipur to transfer implementation and management responsibilities of CARE Bangladesh’s 22-year-old Rural Maintenance Programme to the local government institutions by June next year.
   Funded by the Bangladesh government, Canadian International Development Agency and European Union, the RMP training and income diversification components will be entirely handed over to the local government by June
   30, 2006 through building the required capacities of local
   government officials to run the programme efficiently.
   CARE Bangladesh’s RMP project is the largest poverty alleviation programme, working in 4,200 unions in 61 districts since 1982.
   It has been contributing to the betterment of the life of the most vulnerable rural destitute women by means of providing them with paid-for work for a four-year term.
   At the same time, a press release of the CARE said, the programme imparted training not only on rural road
   maintenance but also on
   human rights, hygiene, nutrition and business management skills.
   Income diversification component of the programme provided women with a ‘nest egg’, accumulated over time from small portion of their wages withheld and saved in a bank account, that enables them to start or expend various income generating activities.
   All these parts of the programme improved women self-reliance, created self-employment and helped these poor women to develop sustainable livelihoods, added the release.
   M Fazle Rabbi, the deputy commissioner, inaugurated the programme as chief guest at the DC office conference room. RMP coordinator Irena Wosk was present.
   The Gazipur pilot project is instrumental to the success of this transfer of responsibility. Its role is to streamline the process and to develop a model to successful shift of the program from CARE to LGD.
   It is expected that lessons from Gazipur pilot programme will be used in imparting
   training in other 60 districts where RMP programme has been implemented for more than two decades, said the release.

A senior aide to the president, George W Bush Monday played down expectations of a major breakthrough on the huge US trade deficit with China.
   ‘This is going to be an issue, you know, it’s a longstanding issue that we’ve had with China,’ White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters aboard Air Force One, as Bush was en route to Asia for a four-nation tour that will include a visit to Beijing on Saturday.
   ‘It’s going to be an issue during this trip, it’s going to be an issue after this trip. I don’t think you’re going to see, you know, headline breakers,’ he said. ‘This is the kind of issue that you have to work with these countries on a sustained basis.’
   Bush is due to arrive in Kyoto, Japan, on Tuesday evening for the start of a tour that will take him to Busan, South Korea, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and later to China and Mongolia.
   Bush plans to press Chinese President Hu Jintao to take further steps toward currency flexibility and to do more to open its markets to US goods, including cracking down on trade in fake American products.
   He told Asian journalists last week that he wanted Beijing to do more to let market forces drive the yuan—which Washington believes is undervalued and poses a hindrance to US exports to China—and called the trade imbalance between the two countries bothersome.

Summit Power began trading at the Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges simultaneously on Tuesday.
   On the occasion, a listing agreement signing ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange board room.
   The exchange’s chief executive officer, Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, and Summit Power chairman and managing director, Muhammed Aziz Khan, signed the agreement.
   The exchange president, Shahiq Khan, vice president Ahmad Rashid Lali and board members and Summit Power executives attended.
   In his welcome speech Shahiq Khan said, considering the electricity demand, increasing by 15 per cent annually, the government is giving priority to electricity generation in the private sector and Summit Power is an important initiative in this respect.
   Aziz Khan said it would be tough to attain an annual eight percent economic growth set out in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper unless a countrywide electrification is done.
   However, the share price of the Summit Power rose to Tk 449.50 from initial public offering price of Tk 140 on the opening day of its trading at the stock exchanges. The lowest price was Tk 329.
   The highest price of Summit Power share at the Chittagong exchange was Tk 400 while the lowest price was Tk 321.
   The closing price of the company’s share was Tk 359 in Dhaka and Tk 373.75 in Chittagong.
   The face value of Summit Power shares is Tk 100.
   About 3,42,700 shares of Summit worth Tk 11.98 crore were traded at the Dhaka exchange, while 55,200 shares worth Tk 1.96 crore were traded at the Chittagong exchange.

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed Tuesday urged Kuwait investors to invest in Bangladesh, particularly in tourism, availing of the excellent investment climate and lucrative incentives on offer for the foreign investors.
   ‘Bangladesh offers very lucrative incentives for the foreign investors,’ he said, when the newly appointed ambassador of Kuwait, Abdullatif Ali Ibrahim AI-Mawwash, presented his credentials to him at Bangabhaban.
   Welcoming the new envoy, Iajuddin requested Kuwait to import readymade garments, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, and leather and leather goods at cheap prices.
   He recalled the contributions of Kuwait for Bangladesh’s entry into OIC, which gives it a chance to expand its relations with the Muslim Ummah.
   He mentioned that there are some more project proposals, especially the construction of the 3rd Karnaphuli Bridge, under active consideration for Kuwait fund, and hoped that the process would be expedited.
   The president conveyed his regards to the Ameer of Kuwait, Sheikh Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Jabir Al Sabah, through the envoy and invited him to visit Bangladesh at his convenient time.
   Earlier on his arrival at Bangladesh, the ambassador was given a guard of honour
   by the President’s Guard Regiment.

The International Finance Corporation and the Financial Times of London have jointly launched the first international private sector development research paper competition for 2005-06, says a WB release received here Tuesday.
   The theme of the competition is titled, ‘Business and Development: The Private Path to Prosperity,’ which is seeking to promote the best thinking on the role of business in development.
   The WB release said the papers should add to the global discussion on private sector development and economic growth by providing innovative analyses, perspectives or ideas. The target audience can be economic and financial policymakers, the international financial community, or international/domestic investors, it added.
   Six awards with a total cash prize of $55,000 will be granted to the top papers, the WB said. The best paper would be given a gold award worth $30,000. Moreover, two silver awards worth $15,000 each and three bronze awards worth $10,000 each will be given.
   According to the IFC, the full results of the competition will be announced at the IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meeting in Fall 2006. The IFC will bear the travel expenses of the winners.
   The announcement noted that the winning paper might be published in the Financial Times Web site. Besides, the best six papers may also be published in the form of a book on the Web site or in a single volume hard copy, it added.
   The IFC said competitors would be required to submit their papers in English with a maximum of 4,000 words. Besides, the abstracts of the papers would have a maximum of 300 words.
   The papers will be submitted to the IFC on or before June 30, 2006, it added.
   The terms and conditions for competition are available in the website- http:// www.ifc.org/ competition.

The 15th annual 3-day US Trade Show will be held from February 8-10, at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka said a press release.
   The trade show, which last year saw 75 participants, representing over 150 US companies, this year will exhibit US products and services.
   The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh in cooperation with the US Embassy will organise the show.
   Interested participants wishing to exhibit US products and services at the show are requested to contact AmCham office (Room 319, Phone: 8653636, Fax: 9349217) located at the Sheraton Hotel, Dhaka.

Asia-Pacific nations on Tuesday urged the European Union to make deeper cuts in agriculture subsidies to unblock global trade talks and rescue next month’s WTO meeting in Hong Kong.
   Amid mounting frustration with the EU, trade ministers from the 21- member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum met here to draw up a strong statement calling for concessions from all nations.
   The meeting, also attended by WTO director general Pascal Lamy, did not specifically name the EU but APEC officials said it was clear who was being targeted.
   The Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said after the talks that APEC members believed the December 13-18 WTO meeting could be rescued, but that much depended on Europe.
   ‘Particularly we want to see progress on agriculture. We want to see the European Union come back with a better market access offer, and that’s going to be crucial to a successful meeting in Hong Kong,’ Downer told the news agency.
   The Philippine trade secretary, Peter Favila, said the final text of the statement was approved at the meeting and would be issued by APEC leaders after their summit on Saturday, which will be attended by the US president, George W Bush.
   ‘It was couched in such a way without pinpointing any economies. It is given who is being referred to,’ he said. The bitter dispute over agriculture has led the WTO to scale down the goals of the Hong Kong meeting, which had originally been tasked with agreeing the rough outlines of a global trade liberalisation deal.
   The EU has received considerable flak from its WTO partners for not offering deeper cuts in agriculture subsidies.
   But the EU says the reductions it proposed, which angered some members, were enough of a compromise, and that it was now down to others to make concessions.
   The US trade representative, Rob Portman, speaking in Beijing on Monday, also put the onus for progress in Hong Kong on bigger EU cuts in farm subsidies.
   The developing countries, which have a comparative advantage in agriculture, would not sign onto a trade liberalisation agreement unless rich countries reduced their protection of agriculture sectors, he said.
   Attempts to unblock the round of trade talks launched in the Qatari capital Doha in 2001 are dominating this week’s APEC’s meetings in the South Korean city of Busan.
   A Japanese official said the issue was discussed again by APEC foreign ministers Tuesday, with some Asian nations criticising the EU, although Japan pleaded for a more measured approach on farm subsidies.
   The dispute has set rich nations against developing nations, but the United States, Australia and developing world heavyweight Brazil have all turned up the heat on the EU over the past week.

The developing countries must make concessions to enable a global trade agreement that would benefit the world’s poorest people, the World Bank president, Paul Wolfowitz, said Monday.
   After talks with the European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, and his team, Wolfowitz appeared to voice sympathy for the European Union’s position that it cannot make further concessions on agriculture without moves from others on trade in manufactured goods and services.
   ‘Agriculture is an important part of the agenda but I think it’s important...that it has to cover agriculture and manufacturing and services,’ he told a joint news conference.
   ‘You’re not going to get to a deal by looking at just a single dimension and you’re not going to get to a deal by playing a blame game,’ Wolfowitz said, declining to point a finger at EU member France, which has fiercely resisted any further concession on lowering farm tariffs.
   ‘I think everyone has to contribute. Developing countries have to make some conces-
   sions as well,’ he said.
   Barroso said the EU had made a serious, conditional offer to open its markets to more farm imports and cut export subsidies, but others now had to reciprocate for a December 13-18 meeting of the World Trade Organisation’s in Hong Kong to succeed.
   ‘Now if we want a success in Hong Kong, others have to move. If not there’s a risk of failure in Hong Kong, let’s be clear,’ he said.
   Negotiators from the world’s leading trade powers failed to achieve a breakthrough in preparatory talks in London and Geneva last week.

Fresh from a rebuff from South American neighbours and amid fears global free-trade talks may stumble, George W Bush, will step up efforts to forge bilateral tariff-busting plans with Asian states this week.
   While Bush would give a push to stalled global free-trade negotiations at the APEC summit in the South Korean city of Busan, he would at the same time press the need for two-way free-trade pacts with several Asian economies of the 21-member Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, officials and experts said.
   Among them are South Korea and several Southeast Asian nations. After his trade officials set December as a possible target date for launching full-scale free-trade negotiations with South Korea, Bush said last week ‘it’s certainly going to be an item’ in talks with President Roh Moo-Hyun.
   To pave the way for the Bush-Roh meeting, the US trade representative, Rob Portman, would hold talks earlier with his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday and Wednesday on the subject.
   But the US will have to first convince South Korea, Asia’s third-biggest economy and the seventh-largest US trade partner, to lift a ban on US beef imports imposed in 2003 and allow more US films into its market—seemingly stumbling blocs to launching the free-trade talks.
   Analysts said that a breakthrough in negotiations with South Korea would open up another front in the US free-trade thrust in the Asia- Pacific region.
   The US has no FTA with any Northeast Asian nation, including its top Asian ally Japan. ‘By the end of this year, it is probable that the US and South Korea will launch negotiations for a FTA and that will have obvious discriminatory effects and political implications for Japan,’ said Fred Bergsten, a top US economist.

The spread of Asia’s deadly bird flu virus has investors scrambling to assess which products or commodities will benefit at the expense of others, with pork producers and drug makers attracting the keenest focus.
   Among the areas that could be hurt, should the virus mutate and cause a global pandemic, are crude oil prices and certain currencies such as the Chinese yuan. A pandemic would generally hurt economies, lessen demand for energy and disrupt trade and travel, analysts said.
   The high-risk H5N1 strain of bird flu, or avian flu, has killed 64 people and infected more than 100 others in Asia since late 2003. The disease has also been found in Europe, but is not in the United States.
   Countries with the disease, such as China, Thailand, and Vietnam, have killed chickens and other birds to curb its spread.
   The disease has spread from birds to people but scientists are worried a global pandemic would occur if the virus mutates and spreads from person to person. The United States does not have the disease, but President George W. Bush said he will request $7.1 billion in funding to stockpile drugs and vaccines should a pandemic occur.
   Recent gains in hog prices at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have been attributed in part to expected bird flu- related demand for pork, the analysts said.
   ‘If consumers reduce their consumption of chicken because of the product safety issue and there is not an equivalent risk involved in pork, then you would expect a shift away from poultry,’ said Jacinto Fabiosa, technical director at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at Iowa State University.
   A shift to pork occurred in Japan when its cattle were detected to have mad cow disease in 2001, he said.
   ‘The company that could be seen in an obvious positive position with no negatives would be Smithfield,’ said Ron Plain, University of Missouri agricultural economist.
   Smithfield, Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc is the world’s largest pork producer.
   The benefits to US chicken companies, such as Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and others, are less clear. Such companies could be helped if countries afflicted with bird flu must import more chicken to replace destroyed flocks.
   Asian countries and Russia could increase imports 10 to 15 per cent as local production there falls due to the flu, Pablo Zuanic, JP Morgan food analyst, said in a recent research report.
   However, the concern is that overseas consumers could turn away from chicken altogether, which could be negative.
   US beef exports may not be greatly affected because of beef’s higher price relative to pork and chicken. Also, some countries still ban American beef because of mad cow disease here.
   During Europe’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, incoming tourists passed through decontamination centres.
   A similar programme could occur with the bird flu, which could help companies that make those systems, said Harry Baumes, managing director for agriculture at Global Insight, a food industry consulting firm.

The International Monetary Fund Monday said it was increasing financial assistance to drought- struck Niger to a total of $37.5 million.
   The fund approved an immediate disbursement of $15.4 million after completing the first review of the West African country’s economic performance under a poverty reduction and growth facility.
   ‘A drought in 2004 has had a severe impact on Niger that affected a quarter of the population and caused acute malnutrition and starvation in the course of 2005,’ IMF deputy managing director, Agustin Carstens, said in a statement.
   ‘The revised programme addresses the impact of the drought,’ Carstens said. Niger’s economic growth has been badly stunted by drought and 2.5 million people face starvation.

Hundreds of thousands of workers staged what unionists called the biggest protest in Australia’s history on Tuesday against the prime minister, John Howard’s proposed labour reforms.
   The central business districts of major cities were brought to a halt by masses of chanting marchers accusing Howard’s Liberal-National coalition of attacking fundamental rights and trying to crush the trade unions.
   ‘What we see today is the largest gathering ever of workers across Australia,’ Unions New South Wales secretary John Robertson told a rally of more than 30,000 people in Sydney.
   Demonstrators had the support of the premiers of Australia’s six states, which are all governed by the opposition Labour Party, whose leader Kim Beazley predicted the reforms would bring down Howard’s government.
   The proposed laws, which cut the power of unions in favour of individual workplace contracts, were passed by the lower house of parliament last week and go before the Senate later this month.
   They are being promoted by Howard’s conservative government as a means of creating jobs and boosting the economy, but critics say they will cut pay, rights to holidays, rest breaks, bonuses and allowances.
   Beazley and Queensland State Premier Peter Beattie joined more than 15,000 protesters in the east coast city of Brisbane, one of 300 rallies nationwide which unionists say will draw a total of half-a-million protesters.
   ‘This will bring the Howard government down unless they back off. But they probably won’t and (these reforms) will take them out,’ Beazley told the crowd.

Transaction
   ABM Kamaluddin Khan, one of the sponsors of NCC Bank Ltd, has reported his intention to transfer 14,000 shares out of his holdings of 41,456 shares of the Bank to his brother Shahab Uddin Khan by way of gift outside the trading floor of Stock Exchange within next 30 working days.
   RA Ghani, one of the sponsors of Prime Bank Ltd, has reported his intention to sell 8,000 shares out of his holdings of 131,998 shares of the Bank, while MA Wahhab, MA Khaleque, Imam Anwar Hossain and KM Khaled, another sponsors of the Bank have separately reported their intention to buy 844; 1,015;1,427; and 1,274 shares of the Bank in addition to their holdings of 196,119; 300,799; 61,908 and 361,599 shares respectively of the Bank at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange within next 30 working days.
   Shahnaz Quashem and Hasina Khan, the sponsors of Prime Bank Ltd, have separately reported their intention to buy 1,230 and 1,404 shares of the bank respectively in addition to their holdings of 16,310 & 34,000 shares respectively of the bank at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange within next 30 working days.
   
   Corporate discloser
   [As per audited accounts as on June 30, 2005]
   Quasem Drycell has reported net profit of Tk. 1.06 crore as against the corresponding year’s figure of Tk 1.77 crore. The company also reported a positive earning per share of Tk 0.55 in the same period of time. The annual general meeting of the company scheduled to be held on December 24, 2005 at 10.00 am, at the Institute of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh at IDEB Bhaban at Kakrail in Dhaka.
   Yousuf Flour has reported net profit of Tk 2.6 lakh as against corresponding year’s figure of Tk 2.4 lakh. The company also reported a positive per share earning of Tk 0.47 in same period of time.
   Agni System Ltd reported net profit of Tk 1.04 crore as against corresponding year’s figure of Tk 90.6 lakh. The company also reported a positive per share earning of Tk 1.30 in the same period of time.
    Usmania Glass reported net profit of Tk 4.59 crore with per share earning of Tk. 104.82.
   Niloy Cement reported net loss of Tk 1.43 crore as against corresponding year’s figure of Tk 1.60 crore. The company also reported a negative per share earning of Tk 8.95 in the same period of time.
   
   Net Asset Value
   On the close of operation on October 31, 2005, Aims 1st Mutual Fund has reported Net Asset Value (NAV) of Tk. 1.11 per share against face value of Tk. 1.00.
   
   Spot trade
   Trading of the share of Northern Jute is also allowed in spot market with cum benefit from November 16 to 23 as book closure will start from November 25.
   Source: DSE, CSE

Bloomberg sues over trademark violation
Bloomberg is suing two Shanghai-based companies for trademark violation. The US financial news giant accuses a financial information service and a website of deliberately using names and trademarks similar to its own. Bloomberg is demanding the companies stop using the Chinese name ‘Pengbo’ a name similar to its own registered Chinese trademark. The Bloomberg Limited Partnership exchanged evidence with the Shanghai Pobo Finance and Economic Information Company and the Shanghai Pobo Network Information Consulting Company, yesterday at Shanghai Pudong New Area District People’s Court.
— Xinhuanet

HSBC Finance hit by US bankruptcy, Katrina
Global bank HSBC’s consumer finance arm said profits in the third quarter fell 40 per cent from the previous quarter, hit by provisions related to Hurricane Katrina and new US bankruptcy laws. US-based HSBC Finance Corp., the former Household business bought by HSBC in March 2003 for $14.8 billion, said on Monday net income in the July-September quarter fell to $281 million, down 14 per cent from a year earlier and compared with $472 million in the second quarter.
— Reuters

Vodafone warns of growth slowdown
Vodafone has reported rising user numbers and half-year revenues, but has warned of slower growth ahead. The mobile phone giant said revenues rose 9 per cent to £18.3bn for the six months to 30 September, with customer numbers up by 10 million. Pre-tax profits slipped 9.5 per cent to £4.1bn ($7.1bn), mainly because of a £515m hit from the sale of its Swedish business. Vodafone warned that growth was set to slow next year, and its comments pushed the firm’s shares down nearly 5 per cent. The news of Vodafone’s caution over future growth overshadowed its announcement that it was to increase its share buyback programme by £2bn to £6.5bn.
— BBC

ICICI sees China business, not investments
ICICI Bank Ltd, a latecomer to the greater China market, prefers cooperative agreements with mainland lenders rather than direct investments, the chief executive, KV Kamath said on Tuesday. The lender, India’s second-largest, opened its first Hong Kong branch on Tuesday and sees great opportunities in greater China, which its executives said is expected to have trade with India of up to $18 billion this year. The bank has branches in London, Canada and Singapore but before opening the Hong Kong branch had only a representative office in China, to which foreign lenders are flocking to the country’s strong economy and $1.7 trillion in personal savings.
— Reuters

Microsoft betting on its MSN services
Microsoft Corp plans to use its MSN division to cash in on China’s booming online advertising market and the popularity of broadband services, the information technology giant said yesterday in Shanghai, six months after it launched its Chinese-version MSN portal. MSN China packages instant messaging, e-mails and blogs on its Website. In the West, online advertising income accounts for about 5 per cent off all media spending, but the figure is less than 1 per cent in China at present, according to Bowman. Domestic online advertising revenue reached 1.9 billion yuan in 2004 and is expected to hit 3.0 billion yuan this year, boosted by increased spending in the IT, automobile, real estate, mobile phone and transportation industries, according to an advertising trade group report.
— Xinhuanet

Olympic mascots spark commercial blitz
The five doll mascots of the 2008 summer Olympiad have undoubtedly sparked a commercial blitz in China, with companies vying to register domain names and launch new products bearing their names or images. Let alone the white-hot retail market filled with cuddly toys, commemorative coins and stamps of the mascots, which are cartoon renditions of a panda, a carp, a Tibetan antelope, a swallow and the Olympic flame, each one the colour of one of the Olympic rings. A high-tech company has snatched the domain names ‘fuwabeibei.cn’ and ‘fuwayingying.cn’, while a flavour firm in Dalian has registered ‘fuwajingjing.cn’, ‘fuwahuanhuan.cn’ and ‘fuwanini.cn’.
— Xinhuanet

Telstra to cut as many as 12,000 jobs
Telstra Corp, Australia’s former phone monopoly, will eliminate as many as 12,000 jobs, lowered its earnings forecast and scrapped a plan to return cash to shareholders. The shares fell the most in more than four years. Chief Executive Sol Trujillo, in his first major initiative since joining in July, told a briefing in Sydney that profit may fall as much as 30 per cent in the year to June 30. Telstra will scrap a A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) payout to investors to fund a network upgrade and a five-year plan to cut 23 per cent of its workforce, he said.
— Bloomberg

UK inflation drops back to 2.3 per cent
UK inflation eased between September and October, figures from the Office for National Statistics show. Inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index dipped to 2.3 per cent in October from 2.5 per cent a month earlier. The underlying rate of retail price inflation fell to 2.4 per cent from 2.5 per cent while the headline rate - which includes mortgages - fell to 2.5 per cent from 2.7 per cent. The ONS said a fall in banking charges had the largest downward effect while a fall in fuel prices also helped.
— BBC

Samsung meets clients over contract deals
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Tuesday it was talking to potential customers about securing contract chip making deals as part of aims to bolster its relatively weak non-memory operations. But the South Korean firm declined to confirm media reports of a possible deal with wireless technology firm Qualcomm. Samsung, the world’s biggest memory chip maker, is considering entering the chip foundry business to diversify its product portfolio and to expand non-memory chip operations, which generated 550 billion won ($529.1 million) of revenue in the third quarter, or just 12 per cent of its total chip sales. ‘We are negotiating with potential clients over contract chip making deals and will announce details when talks are completed,’ a Samsung spokeswoman said by telephone.
— Reuters